A year ago this week Leonid Slutsky was preparing for the start of another Champions League campaign with CSKA Moscow, joining a group where he would his pit his tactical wits against Tottenham, Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen.

Tonight’s trip to Fulham in the Championship is a much less glamorous challenge for the Russian but Hull City’s 5-0 defeat at Derby County last Friday ensures his managerial skills are left to face another big test.

In only his sixth league game in charge of the Tigers, Slutsky was forced to digest the heaviest loss of his professional coaching career at Pride Park. Apologies were made to supporters and promises were made that lessons would quickly be learned.

Slutsky’s honesty and charm continues to see him command the universal backing of supporters but he knows the importance of bouncing back in the capital this evening.

After the opening month had concluded with an emphatic victory over Bolton Wanderers and then brought the recruitment of new boys Jackson Irvine, Nouha Dicko and Fakayo Tomori, a cautious optimism has soon been diluted by Friday’s defeat at Derby.

A third defeat of the Championship season was the most dispiriting day of Slutksy’s short reign and also suggested City remain a work in progress following a turbulent summer.

Slutsky will consider changes, such as starts in midfield for David Meyler and Irvine and a potential recall for Fraizer Campbell, but he wants to see a reaction carried from the training ground to Craven Cottage.

Read More

“In training always everything is good,” said Slutsky. “I didn’t see any problems in training sessions because each player is very professional and training very hard in each training session.

“I couldn’t understand our problems because each training session I didn’t have a problem with the players.

“It’s a very unpredictable situation. Maybe it’s better because we don’t have a time to think more about the situation or maybe it will be bad because we don’t have time to change some things.”

Slutsky afforded himself no time for self-pity over the weekend, heading straight to the capital from Derby to witness Fulham’s 1-1 draw at home to Cardiff.

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic

A third home game without a win leaves the Cottagers level-pegging with City ahead of tonight’s meeting, with both teams in need of a victory to kick-start their season.

“I went a lot of times last season and I watched the game against Cardiff on Saturday,” added Slutsky, who lived in London after leaving CSKA Moscow last December.

“Fulham are more dangerous now in the counter attack, rather than the possession attack but the class of their players they can play in all kinds of situations. Last season their quality of game, they were the best in the Championship.”